Monday Morning Amusement

Quote for the Day

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."

~Nelson Mandela

Social Justice Saturday: Street Harassment

I love this artwork and social commentary by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh.  And I think any woman who has been hassled on the street - and that would be most women - can appreciate her sentiment.  Here's a sampling of her work:

Source

Why is this social justice?  Because women are often subjected to unwelcome attention and harassment by men merely for walking down the street.  And when we react negatively to this unwelcome attention, it is turned into our problem.  Simply for minding our own business females have to endure sexist comments that often start with whistles and cat calls and, when the harasser is ignored, the comments become aggressive and derogatory.  

More of her work can be found here at Mother Jones. 

*This morning I ran across a YouTube on this very topic so I'm sharing it (warning:  strong language ahead):

Wellness Wednesday

For years, I was addicted to diet soft drinks - yes, me.  When I finally decided to kick the habit, I truly realized that is was a real addiction.  The same week that I decided to quit for good, my husband's great aunt fell, broke her hip, and had surgery.  When we were in the hospital during her procedure, all I could think about was the soft drink machine down the hall.  I kept thinking that I'll just have one more and then I'll quit.  When someone was going to the cafeteria to pick up a snack, I was tempted to ask them to pick up a diet soda for me.  This was all I could think about while an 80+ year old woman was in surgery.  How wrong is that?  It was then that I truly realized how bad those sodas were and how seriously addicted I was.  I didn't stop at the soft drink machine that day nor did I ask anyone to bring me a soda.  I broke free of my addiction and hopefully my health will not suffer from the years I consumed mass quantities of the stuff.

The reason I decided to quit in the first place was the artificial sweetener aspartame (known as Equal and NutraSweet), an excitotoxin linked to numerous serious diseases.  Aspartame is so widely used now that you have to be very careful and read labels of things like flavored yogurt because they often contain this artificial sweetener.

Sucralose, trade name Splenda, is another artificial sweetener that is marketed as a healthy alternative to sugar.   Studies have shown it can cause cancer in mice and was recently downgraded by the FDA from "safe" to "caution."  (You know that, considering all the pressure put on them by large corporations, when the FDA negatively changes a safety rating it has to be bad.) 

In addition to the impact on personal health (go to the hyperlinks I've included for aspartame and Splenda to learn about the side affects), sucralose has an environmental impact. Since the human body isn't able to break down the components of this chemical, 90% of it is excreted and ultimately ends up in our drinking water and the environment.  And it doesn't seem to break down once it's there, either.  Who knows what problems it will cause in the long run.

For the sake of your health and the environment (so everyone else's health), step away from the pretty colored packets of chemicals.  When you want to sweeten your food, natural is always better.


(Story source:  http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/11/19/my-artificial-sweetener-addiction-is-hurting-the-planet)

Taste of Tuesday

One of my latest "experiments" is growing pea sprouts/shoots.  I chewed one to see how it tasted and it seemed a bit tough.  So I did a little research and learned I could just harvest the tops and that will encourage new growth.  Here's my growing tray after I took a little off the top:

While doing my research I found a comment in a discussion board from someone who shared a family recipe (source).  I gave it a try and it was fantastic!  Here's the recipe for you to enjoy:

Korean Pea Shoot Salad

Pea shoots

1 T garlic, chopped

2 T soy sauce

1 T sugar

1 t sesame oil (I used toasted sesame oil)

1/2 t red pepper flakes (I used less)

1 T sesame seeds

Blanch the pea shoots for 1 minute, then rinse in cold water and squeeze out the excess water. Mix the rest of the ingredients and pour over the pea shoots.  Refrigerate and serve cold.

Bon appetit!

Monday Morning Amusement

Since the topic of this post turned out to be very controversial, I've decided to remove it.

Quote for the Day

"A tree is an incomprehensible mystery."

~Jim Woodring